Christmas a different perspective

Christmas began to focus on Jesus

This is not a religious post but one based on fact. Christmas or rather Christ's Mass began when Christians decided they would force pagans to stop their heathen celebration of the Winter Solstice. They came up with the idea to choose December 25th to observe the birth of Jesus so the orgies and drunken parties would stop. Over time people began saying Christ was born on December 25 but that is in error.

The point is that the origin of Christmas was when those who believed Jesus was the Savior who rose from the dead put His Name on a date on the calendar. Today people who are of other faith beliefs or believe in nothing celebrate Christmas but keep Christ out of it.

A personal reflection

I am not a Buddhist so I have no reason to observe any holidays associated with Buddha. I am not Jewish so I have no interest in taking part in any special dates associated with Judaism. I certainly would not take a holiday of a religion I don't belong to and change it to suit my tastes but that is exactly what has happened with Christmas.

Earlier in the week, I watched a documentary on the CW about the song Silent Night which is a Christmas hymn about the night Christ was born. This has been sung in churches for centuries but in this documentary, various people were interviewed and said what the song meant to them. Comments included that Silent Night belongs to the world, is magical, about a starry night, and means love and happiness, hope and peace on earth. Everything was said about the song except that it was written to celebrate the first Christmas.

As I am not a Morman I would not say yeah or nay about Joseph Smith but people who are not Christian sing Christmas carols and change the meaning to suit themselves. Nonbelievers who want Christian prayers out of school and choose to say Common Era (CE) instead of Ana Domoni) (In the Year of Our Lord) go around every December shouting Merry Christmas or Happy Christ's Mass or in Spanish Happy more of Christ. If I did not believe in a specific supreme being I certainly would not celebrate anything associated with Him or her.

It's a free country

In America, we are free to observe holidays as we please and no harm comes from nonbelievers observing Christmas in their own way. Please consider, however, this holiday season that you can say Christmas is about whatever you choose and you can enjoy the fun and ignore the religious connotation if that is your desire. Truthfully, however, in my humble opinion, it's pretty hypocritical because Christmas is in the Name. You are calling on the Name of One in whom you say you do not believe. What if someone said they would observe Columbus Day without acknowledging the explorer or Veterans Day without mentioning those who lost their lives fighting wars?

I think of Mr. Spock on Star Trek who often said things were illogical. I find it is not logical for people to celebrate a holiday that is about someone they don't believe in. I am not a Satanist so if there was a day to focus on him I would just do my own thing until it passes. I would not go around wishing anyone a Merry Satan Day. That would be most illogical indeed but the origin of Christmas does not really matter anymore because the holiday like the song Silent Night is considered as belonging to the world.